Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Igbo quit notice: No cause for alarm — Orji Kalu

ABUJA—A former governor of
Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday, reassured Nigerians, especially
Southerners living in the 19 Northern states that there was no cause for alarm
over the October 1st quit notice issued to the Igbo by a Coalition of Northern
Groups, CNG, saying efforts are being put in place to quash the notice.

Dr. Kalu, who gave the assurance at an elaborate meeting with some members of
the Coalition of Northern Groups, in Abuja said, he had a very fruitful
discussion with the leadership of the northern groups in order to review their
position. The leaders of the coalition who attended the meeting included the
chairman, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shetima, Abdulazeez Sulieman,
Aminu Adamu and Balarabe Rufai, who were representatives of other northern
groups.

This came as the leader of
Biafra Nation Guard, BGN, Mr. Innocent Orji, who has been in prison custody
since 2009 over an alleged role in the kidnap and killing of two Chinese
working for Innoson Group of Companies, Nnewi, was yesterday released from
Onitsha Prisons with sixteen other members of his group.

No cause for alarm — Kalu
According to Kalu, “The discussion was very fruitful. You know the diversity of
this country is the strength of the country. The demography of this country is
very essential to what we are doing. People who think that any part of the
country has nothing to contribute for its development are making a mistake.
“Agriculture remains very crucial if this country wants to be serious.

Agriculture can make more
money for this country than anything on earth. And next to agriculture would be
tourism. “Nigeria is a very big country. We transverse between Sahara desert
and Atlantic ocean. This is the only country that can proudly boast of having
the two. Some people are asking God to give them one of the two. But we have
the two, we have the Sahara desert and we have the Atlantic Ocean.

“So, I want to thank Yerima
Shettima for agreeing to come out openly for this meeting. We have been talking
for a very long time. Every day, I call him and we discuss this issue. And we
are getting to a common ground. Arewa youths are making a serious consultation.
“When they say the Igbo, they talk about people in the north who are not
northerners. You don’t know who is Igbo, Urhobo or who is from Bayelsa state.
All of them are Igbo as far as I am concerned. So, I want to assure the
Southerners who are living in the northern part of Nigeria that we will
continue to put our efforts, nothing will happen to them. We are going to move
forward.” The chairman of Slot Group, while noting that the country is at a
difficult situation, however, pleaded that this is the time all Nigerians
should come together and make frantic effort s to salvage the country. We will
review our position — Yerima In his remarks, the leader of the group, and
chairman of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima said they
had a very fruitful discussion which will end the current impasse. Yerima, who
assured that the country will remain one Nigeria, added that, “We will work
within the framework to ensure nobody holds the country to ransom. We have
embarked on a lot of consultations to review our position on the ultimatum.”
According to him, “Probably, the public might think this is the first meeting we
are having with Dr. Orji Ujor Kalu. We have been talking on phone. Ever since
this issue of ultimatum came up, he has been engaging us until today that we
agreed to honour his invitation and speak to the public. “His worries were
basically on the issue of how to maintain the unity of this country in line
with the present situation of things in the country. It is only those who are
blind or ignorant that will say the unity of this country is not being
threatened. “It has been threatened but we have prominent Nigerians like him
who have shown a lot of concern and worry over the situation. To us, we simply
believe that Nigeria belongs to everybody and we want to believe strongly that
we are all equal in this project. “And we will not in anyway accept anybody who
wants to undermine the unity of this country. That was what prompted our
frustration when we issued the quit notice. But events and time change a lot of
things. And this is one of the reasons why today, you see us having this
meeting. “We have had meetings with leaders from our region-the likes of Sultan
of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, Northern governors under the leadership of Kassim
Shettima, the present Governor of Borno State and so many prominent Nigerians.
All these have engaged us on how to resolve this issue amicably. “This is also
one of such engagements to ensure that we discuss amicably and find a lasting
solution to Nigeria’s problems. We are proudly Nigerians and we want the unity
of this country. Dr. Orji Kalu is one of those we have a lot of respect for,
not only because he was brought up in the north or because he schooled in the
north, but also his antecedents, actions and inactions clearly demonstrated he
is someone who believes strongly in Nigeria.” Court releases 17 Biafra
agitators Meantime, the released leader of Biafra Nation Guard, Innocent Orji
consistently denied kidnapping or killing anybody, alleging that he was roped
into the case because of his insistence on the actualization of sovereign state
of Biafra. He was released by the Onitsha High Court presided over by Justice
Ikeogu on the ground that he has overstayed ten years, the number of the years
for the offence if he was found guilty. Mr. Orji ‘s counterparts, Sabastine
Amadi, Amah Onu and Chukwuebuka Ikenwa were discharged and acquitted and were
asked to go since they do not have any other pending case against them. Others
discharged by the court but still have cases to answer at Awka, the state
capital are Casmir Odakwe, Ojemba Anyanwu, Eni Kalu, Ndubuisi Okam, Ikechukwu
Chikwem, Emmanuel Orji, Chukwuma Kalu, Chidiebere Ezekwem, Maduabuchi Asika,
Uche Idikaigbo, Uchenna Nicholas, Peter Igbokwe and Ikechukwu Aghara. Counsel
to Orji and others, Chief Chris Okolo had drawn the attention of the court to
the suspects’ overstay in prison custody since 2009 and appealed to the court
to temper justice with mercy and there was no objection to his plea. Tthe
prosecutor of the case was not in court but the court having seen the merit of
his plea ordered for their release. The BNG leader while speaking with newsmen
after his release thanked God for his infinite mercy towards him and also
thanked the Onitsha High Court Judge for how he allowed justice to prevail at
last by granting him and others freedom. He commended all the patriotic Biafrans
who have contributed in one way or the other to facilitate his freedom and
promised that all their effort will not be in vain as he will not betray the
trust they have in him.

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